Eni faces climate lawsuit over decades-long fossil fuel advocacy

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🗞️ Driving the news: Italian oil company Eni faces its first climate lawsuit, with Greenpeace Italy and advocacy group ReCommon accusing the firm of lobbying for more fossil fuels despite being aware of the associated risks since the 1970s

• The plaintiffs aim to compel Eni to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030

🌎 Why it matters for the planet: The lawsuit adds to the growing number of legal actions against major oil companies for their role in the climate crisis

• It highlights a pattern of deception and harm, with oil majors allegedly aware of the risks but downplaying them and increasing oil and gas production.

🔭 The context: The lawsuit is inspired by similar cases in the Netherlands targeting Royal Dutch Shell and the Dutch government, which resulted in more ambitious emissions reduction targets

⏭️ What's next: Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon plan to file the lawsuit in the civil court of Rome by May 19 and request hearings to start in November

• Eni has stated that it will prove the lawsuit is "groundless" and, if needed, demonstrate its correct approach to decarbonization in court

💬 One quote: "These findings reinforce and add to the pattern found in previous research: oil majors understood the catastrophic effects their products would have on the world, yet failed to warn the public, concealed their knowledge, denied the problem, and obstructed efforts to solve it" (Ben Franta, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme)

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